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Theses and Dissertations

1974

A Geographic Sketch of Early Settlement

John Thomas Blake - Provo

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Blake, John Thomas, "A Geographic Sketch of Early Utah Settlement" (1974). Theses and Dissertations. 4536. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4536

This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. A geographic SKETCH OF EARLY UTAH settlement illILI

A thesis presented to the department of geography brigham young university

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of science

by

john T blake august 1974 this thesis by john T blake is accepted in its present form by the department of geography of brigham young university as satisfying the thesis requirement for the degree of master of science

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typed by robert and sondra jones

11 acknowledgementsACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

the writer gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the following key people who made possible the successful completion of this project dr richard jackson advisory chairman whose scholarly method significantly influenced the research design and presentation format professor thomas hinckley provided guidenceguidanceguidence on cartographic design and made possible the reproduction of maps mr james blake graciously produced the figure drawings which complement several of the maps other staff members of the department of geography at brigham young university have also offered valuable suggestions and assistance this thesis is dedicated to lucille whose personal sacrifice greatly contributed to the completion of this work

iii TABLE OF CONTENTS acknowledgments iiiliilil LIST OF FIGURES v chapter I1 introduction 1

II11 UTAHS PHYSICAL SETTING 5 physical precipitation natural vegetation and soils environment and settlement iliillIII111 WESTWARD MOVEMENT 16 explorers surveyors westward migration

IV settlement 35 boundaries colonization

V development 53 population immigration indian relations the settlement expansion the mormon vanishing isolation railroads mining manufacturing agriculture VI conclusion 86

SELECTED bibliography 88

APPENDIX REFERENCE NOTES ON MAPS 91

IV LIST OF FIGURES

1 utahsutahs physiographic setting 6 2 precipitation 11

3 explorers 18

4 early surveyors 24

5 westward migration 29

6 development of utah state 37

7 development of utah counties 41

8 mormon colonization 48

9 population growth 0 0 55

10 foreign immigrants 1890 58

11 indian farms & reserves 61

12 the utah war 64

13 boom 66 14 salt 1870 69

15 communication & transportation 71 16 railroads 74

17 mining 77

18 value of manufacturing 1870 80

19 wheat production 82

20 cattle grazing 84

v CHAPTER I1

introduction

the chronicle of utah begins in 1776 when spanish aries journeyed through the area the next seventy years saw a pro cession of traders trappers and explorers throughout the west heavy settlement was initiated in utah with the coming of the mor mons in 1847 the fifty years which followed were a period of intense settlement activity which resulted in the creation of many the student of utah settlement may better perceive this episode with the aid of maps maps show areal patterns both qualitative and quantitative they serve to illustrate countless facts which the reader can quickly grasp the information portrayed on maps would require thousands of words of narrative maps are also useful for showing comparisons and relationships of various facts A map focuses the readerreaders attention upon a subject and enables him to better conceive events through their setting this thesis portrays selected topics of utah settlement through maps which more closely examine the man land relationship maps depicting utah settlement are noticeably lacking in historical works it is in the tradition of to use maps as a tool for graphically portraying information concerning settle- ment many excellent works have been produced which portray the

1 2 1 historical geography of the in atlas form I some hi oricalststorical atlases deal with the united states as a whole while others are concerned only with individual states such an atlas is absent however for the state of utah the purpose of this study is to initiate an atlas of utah settlement it is hoped that the project may be continued and expanded in the future to create a comprehensive historical atlas of utah this thesis is not intended as a it rather treats selected topics of utah settlement from a geographic viewpoint pattison has identified four traditions of geography which have domi 2 natedbated the discipline in this century A brief statement of these traditions may enable the reader to better understand what a geo graphic viewpoint is the man land tradition is concerned with mans interaction with the physical landscape physical environment greatly effects mans settlement activities his environmental per captionsceptions are a significant factor directing evolution of the the science tradition is concerned directly with the physical landscape it studies climate landlandformsforms vegetation soils and other phenomenon of mans physical environment the area studies tradition is concerned with delineation and analysis of regions the concept of enables one to focus on a parti cular area and better understand the centripetal and centrifugal forces acting upon it the spatial analysis tradition is concerned

the best example of an historical atlas is by charles 0 paulin atlas of the historical geography of the united stated wash BCDC the carnegie institution 1932

aw9 if 2wW D pattison the four traditions of geography the journal of Geoageosgeographyraphy 63 1964 appp 211 216 with areal distributions and relationships it is this latter tra aitiondition which is most emphasized by the present thesis the writer hopes to portray the distribution of settlement features in early utah and examine their relationships through a series of maps the maps were produced by conventional cartographic methods they were drafted at double size on mylar and reduced photographically the color maps were created by preparing an overlay of each color used photographic plates were made for each negative and the maps were printed by offset press this thesis presents a thematic overview of early utah set tltlementclementement the information covers a time span from 1776 to 1896 the year 1776 represents the first recorded encounter of european cul ture with the area of present utah from that time to the achieve ment of statehood in 1896 may be considered the era of early utah settlement abundant settlement however did not occur until the cormonsmormons arrived the period from 1847 to 1887 was one of intense mormon settlement which significantly affected utahs cultural land- scape the topics discussed and illustrated by maps in this thesis were selected on basis of their relevance to utah settlement and historical geography routes of travel location of settlement and distribution of economic activity are among the themes emphasized chapter two contains two maps dealing with utahs physical setting and discusses the relevance of to settlement the third chapter is an account of the initial movement of occidental culture into utah three maps are used to show the routes taken by explorers and immigrants chapter four utilizes three maps to illuallu strate the formation of boundaries and the pattern of colonization within utah the fifth chapter includes one dozen maps which por- tray various cultural and economic developments it is believed that the topics covered will give the reader an essential understand- ing of some majomajorr factors in utah settlement they will help him to comprehend the important contribution which historical geography makes to his understanding of the cultural landscape most important the maps will enable the reader to realize that utahs landscape was not created in a vacuum the writer feels that an historical atlas of utah will be of tremendous value to teachers researchers students and the inter- ested public it is hoped that the maps of this thesis may prove helpful in this reguard an expansion on this work may include add- itional topics such as international boundaries irrigation trade routes regional studies river navigation and numerous economic developments A true account of utahs settlement geography is dif ficultficula because of the lack of accurate source information diaries old maps census records and other documents are often scanty and contain incongruities which indicate a misrepresentation of facts time was a prohibiting factor in doing primary research for the in- formation presented in this thesis As a result secondary sources were heavily relied upon for the history of utah any expansion of this work must evaluatereevaluatere such sources of information to investi- gate their correctness CHAPTER II11

UTAHS PHYSICAL SETTING

the physical geography of a region significantly effects any settlement activity which occurs within it climate landlandformsforms water resources natural vegetation and soils all interact to estabbestab lish both good and poor settlement locations A brief survey of utahs physical setting reveals some of the environmental factors contributing to present settlement patterns

physical regions

utah contains a diversity of physical landscape figure 1 1 on page 6 illustrates landlandformsforms and drainage systems in utah the state comprises three major physiographic regions the region the rocky mountain region and the plateau region each region presents a distinct topography which consequently ef fecteafected the settlement process

the greatgrea basin region the great basin region is a fault block landscape and com arisesprises a series of mountain ranges running north and south and inter- spersed by small rift valleys the great basin covers a large por tion of the united states but only its eastern edge lies

1manyamanymany of the labeled features in figure 1 will be referred to throughout the text and should be carefully studied

5 figure 1 within present utah great basin valleys which lie adjacent to the and contain fertile alluvium which made them logical for settlement by early agricultural colonists the mountain ranges are sparsely vegetated dry and rocky they offered little inducement to farmers but played an important role in utahs mining industry is the center of attraction in the great basin it is the result of interior drainage and its high salt con I1 tent 23 is exceeded only by that of the great salt lake presently measures about seventy miles long by thirty miles wide covering an area of approximately 1500 square miles the average depth is only thirteen feet however and the area fluctuates greatly with climatic change it covered an area of approximately 2300 miles and measured about seventy five miles long 2 and fifty miles wide during the period of early utah settlement figure 1 pictures great salt lake around 1860 but the lakes re cession has since left many settlements lying farther from the shore than when originally established was once a salt water body but has mostly dried up leaving heavy salt deposits the sevier lake basin is a natural sink and spring fed marshsmarahs occupy large tracts near the mouth of the saline soils and marshland discouraged settlement in this area

lleonileonleon E seltzer the columbian lippincott gazetteer of the world new york columbia university press 1952 p 715 21bd2ibidbibid 8 is a fresh water body fed by mountain streams it drains into the great salt lake through the jordon river the lake is about twenty three miles long and eight miles wide covering a significant portion of the valley in which it lies was a favorite location of early settlers who farmed and grazed livestock on the lakes fringe these lakes are all remnant of ancient which 2 covered much of the region during Wisconsinwisconsinianian times the emptying and gradual drying up of lake bonneville left many salt throughout the area the great salt lake was an impressive barrier to travelers and such areas remained void of settlement valleys on the eastern margin of the great basin in contrast to desert tracts on the west were made salubrious by numerous streams running from the rocky mountain and colorado plateau regions these valleys of the physiographic border area possessed many conditions favorable to settlement and will be discussed in detail in subsequent pages the rocky mountain region

A portion of the rocky mountain cordillera crosses through northeastern utah and two principle mountain ranges constitute the region the uintah range running east west is quite rugged with elevations exceeding thfhriteenriteenmiteen thousand feet it is little suited for agricultural settlement but has proved valuable for its lumber

amilton1miltonmiltonmllton R hunter brigham young the colonizer peregrine smith inc 1973 p 228 athe2the2 the Wisconsinwisconsinianian era lasted from approximately 70000 to 8000 years before the present 9

resources the running north south contains numerous interintermontainemontaine valleys which provide fertile grazing land for settle ment stream carved corridors made useful passagpassagewayseways through the mountains forfor explorers and immigrants the western edge of the rocky mountain region is a fault scarp with peaks rising eight thou snadanad feet above the great basin valleys which lie adjacent to it this area known as the provides a natural fall line which produces abundant water power to operate mills and irrigation systemssys ternsterms the numerous streams running from these mountains are the life line in an otherwise semi arid environment the rocky mountain re gion provided settlers with a generous supply of wood and stone for building purposes the fresh water streams and lakes and the abundance of wildlife were significant factors attracting early trappers and explorers who paved the way for later settlement the colorado plateau region the colorado plateau constitutes a large fragment of south- eastern utah it is an extensive stratigraphic upland which has been acutely dissected by rejuvenation the colorado and green rivers are principle fluvial agents while tributariestributaries have dissected the region into a myriad of mesas and buttes the presented an appalling barrier to early travelers but later served as a highway of exploration elevations range from over twelve thousand feet in the high plateaus to near three thousand feet on the colorado river the rugged and dry nature of the plateau region discouraged 10 settlement there for a time but colonists eventually turned flood plain to field and began grazing on the plateaus the wasatch davantpavant markaguntMarka gunt and other plateaus at the western edge of the re- gion form a segment of the upland wall surrounding the great basin the natural fall line of the wasatch front continues southward along the colorado plateau front and creates fertile valleys adjacent to the plateaus settlers were thus attracted southward along the fall line

precipitation natural vegetationve tation and soils landformsLand forms greatly effected patterns of precipitation natural vegetation and soils in utah figure 2 on page 11 visually illu- strates correlations between these features the physical landscape which emerged as a result of interaction between these features greatly effected settlement and the development of the cultural landscape precipitation utah lies within a midlatitudemid latitude dry climate zone figure 2 however indicates that precipitation is relatively heavy over the 1 rocky mountains and high plateaus southward I orographic precipita- tion provides runoff to streams which flow from the mountains and supply water to valleys 2 valleys receiving these streams were most

ithethe precipitation diagram is based on ward J roylanceroylance utahs geography and counties salt lake city by the author 1654 redondoaveredondo ave 1967 p 30 2 orographic precipitation is caused by mountains standing in the path of moisture laden air this air is forced to rise and there- by sufficiently cools to intensify condensation and trigger rainfall fffsf

0 precipitation1 D 0 naturala vegetationCD 0 0

0

0

41 0 0 0 0 0 foreitfarest land 0 2 0 0 0.0 0 grailgraisgrasl land

0 cr 1 Grattgrattshrubgrats Shrub

CD dalertdaleridesert shrubcr 0 0 0 N 0 0 p 0 0 4 10 040mmaII1 4

0 50 milmii

Es

0 molllioll 0 entisoix 0 aridioltAridi oltols 0 salt fiatflatfiot

TT

figure 2 12 fertile and attractive to early colonists precipitation decreases toward the low lying great basin area to the west and over the gradateddegradatedde colorado plateau to the east these areas are typical of the dry climate zone and have not attracted dense settlement to the present day the effect of oro graphic precipitation is vividly emphasized through recorded rainfall over the valleys which lie adjacent to the wasatch front rainfall in utah valley during the first quarter of the twentieth century averaged 201820.18 inches at maplewoodMap lewood located on the east side of the valley but averaged only 101710.17 inches at mosidamonida located on the west side of the valley 1 rainfall in during the same period averaged 269826.98 inches at high lane located on the east side of the valley and 1402140214.02 inches at saltairsultairSaltair located farther to 2 the westwes t in the valley orographic precipitation causes valleys along the edge of the great basin to receive almost twice as much rainfall on their east side as is received on the west side veg- etation soils and subsequently settlement is thus more opulent on the east side of these valleys as a result of the rainfall pattern natural vegetation figure 2 illustrates that a little over one fourth of utah is forest land 3

1uauU S department of agriculture weather bureau climatic summary of the united states report on climatic data from the estestab- lishlishmentment of stations to 1930 inclusive wash DC U S govern ment printing office 1936 section 20 appp 192019 20 2ibidbibidbid appp 15 26 3 athe3thethe natural vegetation diagram is based on the U S depart- ment of the interiorinteriors the national atlas of the united states wash D C U S government printing office 1970 p 90 13 forest land ranges in elevation from 5500 to over 11000 feet 1 about sixty per cent of the trees are pinypinyonon and juniper with aspen douglas fir fir spruce ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine comariscompris 2 ing the other 40 per cent forest and shrub provided adequate fuel resources and were heavily exploited by early settlers the kolobdolob terrace in southwestern utah contains the only extensive tract of meadowland in the state and was used for intensive grazing by colonists in that area the remainder of utah is dom- inated by grasses and shrub the found luxuriant grasses growing on the floodfloodplainsplains and foothills of the east side of salt lake valley As they moved westward across the valley however lack of moisture was 3 evident in the lack of grasses and the sterile appearance of soils grasses grow abundantly in the fertile soils along river banks and in the shadow of orographic precipitation but decrease toward the desert where shrubs predominate the most common shrubs in the area designated as grassshrubgrass shrub are cottonwood maple and oak the grass shrub provided good agricultural land to early settlers sagebrush is characteristic of the desert shrub area it is indicative of fertile soil while greasewood occupies dry land having 4 poor soil sagebrush is useful for grazing and was heavily

ward J roylanceroy lance utahs geography and counties p 36

21bd2ibidbibid p 35 3 arichard3richardrichard H jackson myth and reality environmental per ceptioncaption of the Morcormonsmormonsmons 1840 1865 an historical osophygeosophyGe unpubunput tlx lisheddished phd dissertation clark university worcester mass 1970 appp 172 173 4roylanceroy lance utahs geography and counties p 34 14 exploited by early settlers soilssolisS oi Is soil patterns in utah are modeled after precipitation vegeta- I1 tion and landfordlandlandformform distributions as indicated by figure 2 mol 29 lisolsligols are soils consisting of rich organic and mineral matter they are dark in color basic and have a well developed structure mollisolsMollisols from in conjunction with abundant moisture and rich vege tativedative covering these soils are excellent for farming and provided good location for settlement in some places the mollisolsmollisols were dry at the time of settlement but needed only the miracle of irrigation to make them productive entisolsEntis ols are soils having high mineral and organic content but are poorly structured due to high mobility they are found along floodfloodplainsplains where rivers keep surfaces constantly churning entisolsEntisols are also good for agriculture but streams must be controlled by le- vees or canals to prevent flooding of the soil aridsolsAridsols have well established horizons but are low in or- ganic matter these soils occur over deserts where precipitation and vegetative covering is limited aridsolsAridsols have little to offer for agriculture and have remained void of settlement to the present the salt flats are an anomolieanomolie in soil classification the salt flats area contains little soil and is rather a vast expanse of

ithethe soils diagram is based on the U S dept of theethe interiors the national atlas of the united states wash BCDC U S govern- ment printing office 1970 p 86 2soil2 soil descriptions used in this thesis are based on the ath7th approximation soil classification 1960 devised by the U S department of agriculture 15 salt deposits on the surface it is representative of the the salt flats were not suitable for settlement but the deposits were valuable resource for the manufacturing of salt

environment and settlement environment played a significant role in utah settlement colonists were attractedattracattractted to valleys having available culinary and irrigation water promise of successful plant growth and fertile soils they avoided dry regions having sparse vegetation and sterile soils settlement patterns were guided by the location of favorable valleys produced by the interaction of various phenomenon of the areas physical geography colonization was thus initiated and made successful in valleys along the physiographic border of the great basin region in utah and but slowly penetrated outward to more ho- stile areas although environment is a guiding force in settlement it must work hand in hand with culture early settlers to utah were agriculturalists and thus favored the valleys as location for settle- ment had the states first immigrants been miners however settle- ment would likely have originated in the mountains culture is equally important to environment in determining settlement location it is hoped that the inseparability of the man land relationship becomes even more apparent in subsequent chapters CHAPTER liiIII111

WESWESTWARDTWARD MOVEMENT

the way for utah settlement was prepared by frontiersmen who traveled the area extensively they became familiar with landlandformsforms lakes rivers climate soils and vegetation of the region they were forerunners in westward expansion which eventually engulfed the A great number of pioneer settlers followed the explorers westward and many of them came to settle in the area of present utah

explorers utah was once part of terra incognita or unexplored it remained unsettled as a spanish borderland but was explored and colonized by americans as the anglo frontier expanded westwardwes tward

A spanish borderland fray francisco antasioanatasio dominquez in 1776 led a group of spaniards in search of a route from santa fe to monterrey their journey is popularly know as the escalante expedition named after fray silvestre valez de escalante who kept the ventures journal the cardenas expedition had been dispatched from cibola by coronado in 1540 and had returned with reports of an impassible chasm to the northwest this fact coupled with rumors of the presence of cannibal 16 17 indians in that vicinity had persuaded dominquez to seek a route northeastward and around the grand canyon spaniards had likely been to the great basin before 1776 this is suggested by the fact that a member of the escalante expedition was taken along as a yuta in- terterpreterpreter to communicate with indigindiginousindigenousinous peoples with which the party 1 expected to come in contact the escalante expedition of 1776 is the first chronicled visit of white men to utah figure 3 on page 18 illustrates that escalante entered utah near the present site of jensen on the statestatess eastern border the party crossed green river proceeded up the duchesne river and entered utah valley through spanish fork canyon escalante was well received by the indians of 2 utah valley and spent several days proselytizing among them the spaniards promised to return and establish missions within a year but political events caused a change of course the jesuits were a militant order of catholic priests who acquired much power and influence during the eighteenth cneturycnetury european monarchs felt a threat to their sovereignty and began purg ing their kingdoms of jesuits in 1767 the blackrobesBlackrobes were expelled from new and the burden of their missions fell upon other or- ders of priests dominican and franciscan missionaries were spread thin to cover the jesuit missions and expansion activity was thus 3 retarded As a result the franciscans never acheivedacheived sufficient

ijohnjohn francis bannon ed bolton and the spanish border- lands norman university of oklahoma press 1968 p 290 2 2lelandglelandleland H creer the foundingFoundiaZ of an empire salt lake city bookcraft 1947 p 11 3 bannon bolton and the spahishspahich borderlands p 192 explorers

figure 3 19 manpower to establish the promised missions in utah the escalante chronicler remarks that the indians were burn- 1 ing extensive pasture land in the valleys of utah he supposed it was to discourage the spaniards from staying in utah but was likely just observing a tradition indians throughout the continent were in a habit of annually burning off grasses and shrub to stimulate 2 new growth utah indians probably followed this practicepractivepractive and were in the act of doing so that autumn as the spaniards travelled through utah escalantes journal gives a descriptive account of the physical landscape of utah valley throughout the valley there is much good pasture and in some places flax and hemp grow in such abundance that it seems as though they had been planted deliberately the climate is also good here because after suffering from the cold from the time we left san bueneventurabuenaventuraBueneventura now night and day throughout the valley we feel very warm besides these excellent natural features the surrounding mountains contain pasture lands to raise cattle and horses all this is true of the north north- east east and southeast parts 3 it is apparent that utah valley offered fertile land for spanish settlement and franciscans might well have established mis- sions had the jesuit expulsion of 1767 not prevented expansionist activity had these missions materialized mormon immigrants would have found spanish settlement in utah and brigham young might have been forced to look elsewhere for the isolation which he sought

1creercreer the founding of an empire p 11 2 jralph2ralphralph H brown historical geography of the united states new york harcourt brace and world inc 1948 p 13 3herbertgherbert3herbert auerback father escalantes journal utah hi- ststoricalorical quarterly XI jan aarapr jul oct 1943 p 70 20

after leaving utah valley escalante headed southward along the fall line and into the early onset of winter forced a decision to return to santa fe but the formidable grand canyon lay between the party and its selandbaselandbasebandba the search for a crossing through the gorge led the expedition back into utah where they discovered an established indian trail through the cliffs the group was in fam- iliar territory after crossing the colorado and hastily completed their journey back to santa fe the escalante expedition failed to reach monterrey but it provides our first descriptive account of the utah landscape trappers utah was subject to exploitation throughout the 1820s1820 by trappers anxious to profit from the lucrative fur trade which existed the rocky mountain fur company was formed by william ashley and major henry in 1822 and came to dominate utahs fur industry most famous of the companyscompcompanasanys employees were etienne provot and provot led the companies first expedition into utah in 1824 he founded a passage through the rocky mountains making south pass the famous gateway into the land beyond figure 3 indicates that provot descended the and explored the wasatch front he made a hasty retreat through when set upon by stileshostilesho in utah valley jim bridger accompanied provot as the expedition neared utah but led a faction off northward and descended the bear river into there was some contention among these trappers con- cerning the final course of bear river and bridger made wager to 21 follow the river to its mouth he reached the shore of great salt lake in 1824 and is generally recognized as the discoverer of the lake 1 ashley himself entered utah in 1825 he navigated the green river to the site of the present of green river utah he then explored the uintah basin and trekked northward across the uintah range upon coming in contact with the green river again he insti- tuted the areas first rendezvous in 1825 as shown in figure 3 the rendezvous became an annual affair during which trappers and friendly indians from throughout the area met to have games swap lies and drink whiskey the first rendezvous site was called henrys fork while the 1826 rendezvous was near present ogden utah A third rendezvous was held at bear lake in 1827 rendezvous were the ante- cedent of permanent white settlement in utah as these sites became location for supply caches and trading posts the trapper who most extensively explored utah was jedediah

smith figure 3 indicates that he entered utah from the north in 1825 he led a trapping expedition toward after the ren delvousdezvous of 1826 the expedition traveled southward along the great basins edge in utah and discovered many valleys rivers and tribes he reached the mission of san gabriel in 1826 and requested permis- sion of the mexican governor to trap and trade in california newly independent was in no mood to encourage american encroachment however and the intruders were promptly expelled smiths return route to utah led northward along the california coast and then

1creercreer the founding of an empire p 11 22 turned eastward crossing the sierra range he crossed the great basin during the summer months and reached utah in time for the rendezvous of 1827 jedediah smith learned much about the nature of southern utah but most important was his demonstration that the great basin could be crossed the convention of 1818 resolved that the united states and british america would jointly exploit the but ter ritritorialrisorialorial imperative existed between individual groups of trappers represented the british hudson bay company and en- tered cache valley in 1825 he received an antagonistic welcome from american trappers who robbed and drove him from the area ogden returned to utah in 1828 and trapped along the wasatch front he established ogdens hole which proved to be the first permanent set- tlement in salt lake valley captain benjamin bonneville led a trapping expedition west ward in 1831 he dispatched his chief assistant joseph walker to reconnoiter the great basin walker crossed the northwestern edge of utah many times in his exploration which revealed the great basins nature of interior drainage walkers accounts were the basis for maps and further exploration which disclosed the dimensions of the basin 1 diminishing markets and over exploitation of fur bearing ani- mals let to a decline in the fur trade during the 1830s and a new surge of exploration activity began as government survey explorations were sent westward

fremontsfremonteFremonts ist & and2nd expeditions U S senate document p 275 23 surveyors

the purchase of 1815 and the of 1848 brought vast new territories into the american republic sev- eral governmental expeditions were sent out to survey routes and re- cord landscapes utah was crossed by numerous surveyors and became a focus of study for some

captain john C fremont was commissioned to examine south pass as a possible immigrant route through the rockies his 1842 expedi- tion returned with favorable reports which greatly stimulated the oregon migrationsimmigrationsim fremont was sent west again in 1843 to fur ther investigate the oregon route figure 4 on page 24 shows that he descended the bear river to great salt lake where he conducted a study of that valley he recorded pressure winds soils and veg- 1 etation of the area fremonts impression of the valley was favor- able for settlement in the eastern part of the basin containing sevier uathbath and the great salt lakes and the rivers and creeks falling into them we know there is 2goodgood soil and good grass adapted to civilized settlements fremonts report was an important factor in the Mormormons1cormonsmormonsmons de 3 cisioncasion to settle in the salt lake valley fremont entered utah a third time in 1844 upon return from exploration of oregon and california he came from the southwest and continued northward to utah valley an exit through spanish fork

1creercreer the founding of an empire p 110 2 2fremontsfremontsfremonteFremonts ist & and2nd expeditions p 276 3 3brighambrigham H roberts A comprehensive history of the church vol 2 provo brigham young university press 1965 p 521

25 canyon led the expedition eastward past ft robidoux and out of utah fremonts next commission was to explore several headwaters located in the rocky mountains examine the great salt lake and survey a route across the range he entered utah from the east in 1845 and proceeded to the great salt lake fremont spent several weeks sketching landscapes making astronomical obser- vationsvations and taking geologic samples 1 fremont crossed the great salt lake desert and pioneered which later became an important shortcut on the california trail fremont entered utah a final time in 1853 in search of a route for the transcontinental railroad which congress was planning coming again from the east he followed the grand river valley across green river traveled through the of southern utah and emerged at the mormon settlement of Pacarowanparowanrowan fremont was the first to extensively traverse the colorado plateau and explored utah more thoroughly than anyone to that time the scientific quality of his surveys provided much useful informsinforma tion concerning the true nature of utah this information provided routes to immigrants confidence to settlers and precedence for other surveys captain made the first official railroad survey through utah in 1849 he was guided through ogden canyon by jim bridger and then continued to salt lake city stansbury made an intensive survey of the great salt lake as shown by his route in figure 4 his maps indicate the lakes shoreline fluctuation when

1creercreer the founding of an empire p 119 26 compared with modern maps stansburys survey around the north end of great salt lake was basis for the route of the transcontinental railroad across salt lake valley

captain john W gunnison was commissioned to survey a railr- oad route across the colorado plateau in 1853 his expedition en- tered utah through grand valley skirted the Tavatavaputsputs plateau and rounded the the party then cut through the wasatch and davantpavant plateaus and descended into the davantpavant valley gunnison gives a grim description of the plateau region ascribing it to bar- 1 ren sandstone ridges and alkalaialkalaj fields the route which gunnison outlined was perceived as a new mail and military road connecting the southern states with california gunnison never finished his survey however as his party was killed by indians near present hinckley utah A most important aspect of gunnisons report is his suggestion that stansburys northern route was probably superior to 2 the plateau region for passage of the railroad lieutenant E B beckwith was dispatched by gunnison to sur vey a railroad route through provo canyon and west across the salt flats beckwith reported that provo canyon had to steep of a grade and that the south end around great salt lake offered little building 3 material for the railroad brigham young favored beckwiths route around the lake but railroad officials heeded the surveyors advice and built around the north end of great salt lake two principle routes had been established across the great basin by 1859 the northern route took hastingshastingsshastings11 cutoff across

1ibidbibidbid p 141 2ibidbibidbid p 142 bibid3ibidbid p 148 27 salt lake valley and descended the humboldt river in nevada the southern route skirted the basin along the virgin river officials sent captain J H simpson to find a more direct route linking salt lake city with carson valley nevada simpson headed westward from camp floyd in 1859 and established a wagon road which substantially 1 reduced travel time across the basin simpsons route was later used by the pony express and transcontinental telegraph

major john W powell in 1869 descended the green and colorado rivers he traveled from green river to the mouth of the virgin river in nevada his expedition located the mouths of many tributariestributaries in the plateau region and enabled map makers to 2 complete the picture of utah powell conducted several more surveys of the great basin in succeeding years and stimulated much interest in the and ethnology of utah

westwardwes tward migration the first trails into the west were merely trade routes but thousands of immigrants soon beat paths into highways of westward migration cormonsmormons joined in the westward movement in 1847 and be- gan building their great basin kingdom borderland trails other spaniards came to utah after the escalante expedition of 1776 they were not sent by church or state however but came

1ibidbibidebid p 154 9 2gustivegustive 0 larson outline history of territorial utah provo BrighabrighamyoungmYoung university press 1972 p 257 28 as slave traders tribes throughout the great basin raided one another for captives to be sold as slaves to the spaniards A regu- lar trade route known as the old spanish trail was established be- tween santa fe and los angeles figure 5 on page 29 indicates that the trail entered utah near present moab crossed the plateau region and headed southwest toward california journals of trap- pers and mormon colonist in utah tell that mexicans were slave trad- 1 ing as late as 1860 the old spanish trail had been abandoned how- 2o ever when traveled over by a mormon reconnaissaunce in 1847 the slave trade had apparently found a different route by that time nevertheless the old spanish trail was the first established route into utah and was later used by mormon colonists spaniards became alarmed at american movement into the mississippi valley during the later eighteenth century pierre vial de lyon was sent in 1792 to establish a route from santa fe to 30 st louis in hopes of strengthening the spanish hold on the area this route boomed with trade following mexican independence in 1821 and became known as the santa fe trail it resulted in lucrative markets which encouraged americas westward expansion the trail was later used by american immigrants settling in the southwest it connected with the old spanish trail at santa fe to provide a southern route into utah

1creercreer the fountinfoundinfounding of an empire p 35 2 shunter2hunterhunter brigham young the colonizer p 73

Q ajohn3johnjohn francis bannon the spanish borderlands frontier new york holt rinehart and winstonwins ton 1970 p 202

30 northern trails oregon was characterized as the land of promise by american diplomats anxious to encourage settlement there during the first half of the nineteenth century the establishment of american towns and farms in the northwest would greatly strengthen americas hand in boundary disputes with the british oregon was propagandized as the finest grazing and farming land in all of the continent 1 thou sands of immigrants flocked to the promisepromisedd land and a regular trail was established between independanceindependence and oregons willa- mette valley the oregon trail as illustrated in figure 5 followed the south side of the platte river through nebraska and crossed over 2 after passing fort laramie it negotiated the rocky mountains through south pass and led northward from to the snake river near fort hall it then paralleled the snake to fort boise and crossed through northern oregon the route from south pass to soda springs varied greatly and many shortcuts such as sublettes cutoff bypassed fort bridger the oregon episode was repeated in california during the 1840s john C fremont samuel brannon lansford hastings and others were determined to make california independent from mexico and drew much of the oregon immigration off to california the cali- fornia trail left the oregon trail at soda springs crossed the northwestern corner of present utah and followed the humbolt river

jralph1ralphralph H brown historical gegeographyachyaphy of the united states p 469 2fortufort2 fort laramie is not the same settlement as the present city of laramie wyoming 31 through nevada it then crossed the sierrasierranevadanevada range and descended into the sacramento valley thousands flocked to california following the gold discovery at fort sutter in 1848 lansford hastings followed fremontsFremons 1845 route across salt lake valley in 1846 and established hastingshastingsshastings11 cutoff this short- cut left the oregon trail near fort bridger crossed the wasatch range into salt lake valley and headed for on the present utahnevadautah nevada state line hastingshastingsshastings11 cutoff considerably shortened the distance from fort bridger to the humboldt but difficult mountain passes and desert posed obstacles to those who chose this route the first immigrant parties to take hastings cutoff were unprepared to meet these barriers and met with great hardship most remembered is the tragic they left independence missouri late in the fall lost a months time cutting through dense undergrowth in mountain passes lost most of their supplies crossing the great salt lake desert and were caught in early snows at the base of the sierrebierre nevada mountains the trails which these early parties blazed through the wasatch range greatly eased the mormon trek into utah a 1 year later in 1847 the bulk of oregon trail immigrants bypassed utah but the route which they had established guided the cormonsmormons from fort kearney to fort bridger the california trail was not extensively used by utah immigrants either but it guided the from fort sutlersutter to salt lake valley

1creercreer the founding of an empire p 183 32 mormon routes the church of jesus christ of latter day saints was organized at fayette new york in 1830 the movement had its origin several years earlier when its founder joseph smith jr claimed to have received divine calling to restore the church of jesus christ in its 1 fullness the Morcormonsmormonsmons as followers of smith were called were persecuted for their religious beliefs and practices and were driven 2 westward with the frontier they were industrious and established a prosperous city named nauvoo on the illinois bank of the missi- ssippi As early as 1842 smith was planning to remove his following to the rocky mountains 3 increasing persecution led to the martyrdom of the mormon prophet in 1844 and brigham young assumed the role of leader of the church mormon leaders continuedcontinuedto to plan an exodus westward examining the reports of fremont and others who had ex- plored the area by january of 1846 the decision was final the 4 cormonsmormons would migrate to the great basin mob violence hastened the churchs departure from nauvoo in 1846 and the cormonsmormons crossed iowa to establish winter quarters near present council bluffs win- ter quarters became an important outfittingoutwittingoutfitting station for cormonsmormons pre- paring to emigrate to the great basin in the spring of 1847

roberts A prehensiveconprehensivecomprehensiveCon history of the church vol 1 p 54 2 athe2thethe term mormon comes from the an ancient scriptural record which smith allegedly received from an angel 0 cjackson3jacksonjackson myth and reality environmental perception of the Morcormonsmormonsmons 184018651840 1865 an historical osophygeosophyGe p 90 4ibidbibidbid p 96 33 brigham young led the first group of mormon immigrants to the salt lake valley figure 5 illustrates that the pioneers traveled the north side of the platte river from council bluffs to fort laramie thus avoiding the oregon trail on the rivers south side the nu- merous parties which had proceededpreceeded the cormonsmormons westward had left the 1 oregon trail overgrazedovergrazed and void of range feed the cormonsmormons cros- sed over the platte at fort laramie and followed the oregon trail to fort bridger they followed the donner route into salt lake valley arriving on july 24 1847 salt lake city was established and the cormonsmormons began their colonization of the great basin the mexican american war of 184618481846 1848 provided the cormonsmormons an opportunity to prove their loyalty to the united states and also to acquire funds with which to finance their move to the great basin A mormon battalion was recruited and was outfitted at fort leaven- worth kansas the battalion headed southwest on the santa fe trail leaving on august 12 1846 and took the cimmarronCimmarron cutoff to santa fe as shown in figure 5 they met no resistance from their opponents and the small mexican outpost of tucson was abandoned by its troops upon approach of the larger american force the mormon battalion reached its destination of san diego in january 1847 and was discharged from service A few of the cormonsmormons re enlisted for garrison duty at san diego but the majority traveled to salt lake and were reunited with the body of the church those returning to utah traveled north- ward from san diego and found temporary employment at fort sutlersutter several remained to participate in the gold strike but the remainder

eroberts1robertsroberts A comprehensive history of the church vol 3 p 168 34 followed the california trail to utah and arrived in salt lake during october 1847 they apparently had not heard ofhastings has tingsftinguf cutoff or perhaps they heard of the donners fate in taking it and followed the california trail far northward around great salt lake the mormon immigration marks the beginning of heavy settle- ment in utah the had skipped from missouri to the west coast but was now creeping back eastward as cormonsmormons oc- cupied the great basin CHAPTER IV

settlement

brigham young at first claimed almost the entire great basin and colorado drainage for the Morcormonsmormonsmons the boundary which he drew was substantially altered however by the official creation of subsequent reductions shaped the present state of utah brigham young instituted a program of colonization in utah as the mormon empire began taking form

boundaries the cormonsmormons established a provisional state known as to provide law and order and lay claim to their western expanse the united states had gained aquisitionacquisition of the area following the mexican american war however and soon carved the entire area into new ter- riritoriestories of which utah was one utahs boundaries were gradually reducereducedd to the states present form as political regions in the west were subsequently organizedreorganizedre the provisional government of deseret created several counties from the valleys being settled in utah many more counties were established after utah became a territory utah counties underwent numerous alterations until the time of state- hood in 1896 the the treaty of guadalupe hidalgo in 1848 brought an end to

355 36 the mexican american war and resulted in the cession of the remaining 1 spanish borderlands region to the united states the cormonsmormons had received little protection from the american government during their persecutions in the east nevertheless they maintained allegiance to the constitution of the united states and intended to petition for 29 territorial status upon arrival in the great basin refusal of the petition caused mormon leaders to formulate a provisional government 30 to establish law and order over the great basin A civil convention was held in salt lake city on february 2 1849 and the state of 4 deseret was created A constitution was drawn up and brigham young was elected governor deseret encompasedencompassed a vast area and was deli- neated by natural features as shown in figure 6 on page 37 the gila river was the states southern limit while drainage divides bounded elsewhere the continental divide and wind river mountains were borders on the east the great basin drainage divide was border 5 on the north and the sierra nevada range formed the western border the convention showed wisdom in including the pacific coastline from los angeles to san diego within the bounds of deseret they apparently realized the predicament of landlocked states and desired an access

ithethe spanish borderlands region may be broadly defined as the southern portion of the 2 eroberts2robertsroberts A comprehensive history of the churchchurich vol 3 p 415

bibid3ibidbid p 422 4 athe4thethe word deseret is a book of mormon word meaning honey bee it is used as a symbol of industry and frugality adale5daledaledaie H morgan the state of deseret 1 utah historical quarterly VIII april 1940 p 83 fz7p

development of ulahutah slatestalestate

100 0 statsshatsstate of deseret 1849 utah territory 1850

Q cddadd to ntvadanavada 1861 LJ cedtdceded to colorado 1861 ED cddadd to nyada 1862 tj cddadd to nbrolka 1861 rrnarn e3ea cddadd to nvadaavada 1866 lujIHJ cddadd to wyoming 1868

figure 6 38 to the sea utah territory congressional interest in mexican cession lands was stimu- lated by the california of 1849 congress quickly moved to organize the west and as a result the unofficial state of deseret was dissolved california was organized as a state and the southern portion of deseret was given to territory utah territory was created from the northern portion of deseret on september 9 1850 it lay between the 37th and 42nd parallels and was bounded on the west by the 120th meridian and on the east by the rocky 1 mountains summit brigham young maintained the governorgovernors chair but several federal appointees came from outside of utah the california mining boom had extended over onto the east side of the sierrasierranevadasnevadas by 1860 and gentiles far outnumbered mor 2 mon colonists in that area the gentiles detested and its jurisdiction over the western portion of the great basin from a distant capital in salt lake city 3 they petitioned congress for the creation of a territory separate from utah the sierrasierranevadasnevadanevadas rich mineral potential prompted congressional action and the territ- ory of nevada was created from the western sideeideelde of utah territory

andrewlandrew L neff history of utah 184718691847 1869 salt lake city deseret press 1940 p 168 athe2thethe term gentile is used in reference to anyone not of the mormon faith 3 ajames3jamesjames W hulse the nevada adventure reno university of nevada press 1972 p 100 39 1 in 1861 it lay between the 116th and 120th meridians nevada was a small territory in 1861 but had big ideas of acheivingacheiving statehood the nevadansNevadans petitioned congress for additional utah land as miners moved eastward and discovered lodes in the mountains of the great basin figure 6 shows that utah made additional sessionscessionscessions to nevada in 1862 and 1866 the first addition extended nevada to the 115th meridian and the latter addition carried it to the 114th meridian 0 where the present utah nevada line is established 2 the story of utahs territorial reduction on the east is similar to that of reductions on the west denver was already an important stop on the overland stage route in 1858 when the dis 3 covery of gold at cherry creek drew hordes of miners into the area in 1861 there was a general reorganization of territories of the colorado was composed from portions of kansas new 4 mexico nebraska and utah territories was 5 created and nebraska was extended into utah utah suffered a final reduction with the creation of in 1868 the western portion of dakota had been clamoring for independence since 1864 the building of the transcontinental railroad through present wyoming brought the development

eroberts1robertsroberts A comprehensive history of the church vol 4 p 7 21bd2ibidbibid 3 abrown3brownbrown historical geography of the united states p 444 4 cleroy4leroyleroy H hafen colorado the story of a western commo- nwealth denver peerless publishing 1933 p 134

5herbertgherbertherbert S schell lincoln uni- versity of nebraska press 1965 p 69 40 1 prerequisite for establishment of a territory the creation of wyoming territory in 1868 extracted a piece of land from utahs northeastern corner and gave utah its final form utah occupied only about one third of its original area fol- lowing territorial reductions she began petitioning for statehood in 1850 but was not admitted until january 4 1896 following al- most fifty years of settlement utah finally became the nations forty fifth state utah counties the first attempt to create counties in utah was made by the 2 state of deseret in 1850 seven valleys into which mormon settle- ment had spread were established as counties the counties of weber davis great salt lake tooelethoele utah and san pete all lay along the wasatch front while little salt lake county represented colonization to the south figure 7 on page 41 shows the irregular shape of these first counties where mountains enclosing the valleys formed natural boundaries 3 settlement expansion prompted the territorial legislature to 4 reorganize territories in 1852 new county lines were based on the

1tatT A larson lincoln university of nebraska press 1965 p 69 2james ajamesjames B alienallenailen the evolution of county boundaries in utah utah historical quarterly XXIII july 1955 p 261 3naturalnatural boundaries are features of the physical landscape which are used to delimit regions 4allenballenalienailenallen the evolution of county boundaries in utah p 264 development of ulahutah counties

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1 latitude longitude grid system figure 7 shows that the original seven counties were expanded and five new counties were added as the entire territory was divided into areas of jurisdiction territorial reduction and intensified settlement along the wasatch and colorado plateau fronts caused numerous county changes in succeeding years iron county was split along the thirty eight and one half degree parallel to from beaver county in 1856 por- tions of green and salt lake counties were used to form the counties of summit cache morgan and rich in the respective years 1854 1856 1862 and 1864 these counties were a result of the spread of settlement into the wasatch range county lines began to deviate from the grid pattern as drainage divides were used as boundaries for these counties utah reacted to the extension of nebraska into its territory by creating wasatch county in 1862 to guard against further intrusions the great east west lateral expanse of counties was significantly reduced by utahs land sessionscessionscessions to colorado and nevada counties were further reduced by re organization as settle- ment spread out to either side of the wasatch and colorado plateau fronts kane county was created from washington county in 1864 while san pete was split to form sevier and plute was formed from part of beaver figure 7 illustrates that in 1870 following final 2 territorial reductions there existed twenty counties in utah boundaries consisted of both drainage divides and grid lines several more counties were formed in utah as population

1ibidbibidibid p 264 9 2larsonblarsonlarson outline hishashistorytory of territorial utah p 293 43 increased and settlement spread out across the colorado plateau during the 1880s and 1890s emery san juan and uintah counties were created in 1880 and rivers were extensively used as boundaries in utah for the first time garfieldgarfield county was created from iron county in 1882 and wayne county was created from plute county in 1892 grand and carbon counties were both created from emery county the first in 1890 and the latter in 1894 counties began to stabilize following the settlement of the colorado plateau region and utah en- tered the union with twenty seven counties in 1896 figure 7 in- dicates that two more alterations were yet to occur duchesne county was carved out of wasatch county in 1914 as settlers made a final push onto indian lands daggett county was created in 1917 as a result of settlement isolation on the northern slopes of the uintah range in uintah county 1 mention should perhaps be made of one additional county in utahs past the rio virgin county was created in the southwestern corner of utah in 1868 it was later found to lie mostly in nevada however and the small portion lying within utah reverted back to washington county in 1872 the final form of utahs county lines was an agglomeration of both natural and geometric boundaries

colonization the cormonsmormons began reconnoiterreconnoiteringing the great basin in search of settlement locations immediately after their arrival in salt lake valley they established numerous colonies along the eastern edge of the great basin and several more were located along the fringes

1allenballenalienailen the evolution of county boundaries in utah p 274 44 of deseret neff devised a scheme which conceived the colonies of interior utah as forming an inner cordon of settlement while the outlying colonies formed an outer cordon of settlement he asserted that the outer gordon was strategically created to appopriateappropriate key agricultural points and form a ring of security around utahs heart- 1 land recent reappraisal of neffs concept by campbellhowevercampbellcampbeli however 2 points out its fallacies campbell concludes that the outer cordon merely exists in the mind of historians and was not a systematic plan of colonization the inner and outer cordonscordona will be referred to in this thesis only to designate geographic regions of mormon settlement another fallacefallaciousfallaceousous concept is that of the mormon corridor hunter portrays the mormon corridor as a highway of immigration and 30 communication between salt lake city and the west coast although brigham young may have intended it to serve as such the scheme never successfully materialized inner cordon settlement the inner cordon of settlement consists of those colonies established along the eastern edge of the great basin in utah its formation was a result of settlement expansion into the fertile val- leys which line the wasatch and colorado plateau fronts the cormonsmormons had thoroughly studied the reports of early

effneff history of utah 184718691847 1869 p 217 ceugene 2eugeneeugene E campbell brigham youngs outer cordonacordon A reap- praisalpraisal charles redd monographs in western history no 3 provo brigham young university press 1974 appp 105135105 135 shunter3hunterhunter bribrgbrigham94am young the colonizer appp 689168 91 45 explorers to utah and had received both positive and negative impres- sions for settlement fremont spoke of the eastern side of salt lake valley as an oasis in the desert and highly recommended it for set- tltlementement his statement regarding the scarcity of timber however was corroborated by major harris and dampened the hopes held by some mormon leaders for a prosperous colony near the great salt lake 1 nevertheless brigham young made the final decision to settle there and salt lake city was established as the first mormon settlement in utah numerous other colonies were established along the inner cordon in rapid succession as indicated in figure 8 on page 46 bountiful was founded just north of salt lake city in 1847 as the pioneers searched for winter grazing range miles goodyear was a rancher living near ogdens hole when the cormonsmormons came to utah he sold out to them in 1848 and the village of ogden was established ogden and ogdens hole north ogden grew rapidly as a popular area of mormon settlement brigham city was founded in 1851 and settle- ment soon spilled over into cache valley to create the town of logan in 1859 settlement also spread southward from salt lake city utah valley seemed favorable for settlement and fort utah was built near utah lake in 1849 it was soon discovered that the site was unsuited for settlement however due to annual flooding by the the village was finally moved farther upstream and out of the flood 29 plain to become the town of provo settlements were often relocated

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to better ground after colonists became more familiar with the area they were in A local tribe of ute indians were desirous of acquiring the white mans relatibelatirelativelyve ly comfortable way of living and invited the cormonsmormons to colonize among them in san pitch valley the cormonsmormons ac comodatedcomodated by establishing manti in 1849 and ephriam in 1852 the settlement arm created by these villages was later linked by tele- graph and railroad to become an integral part of the inner cordon brigham young dispatched a southern exploring party in 1849 to locate sites for settlement in southern utah the party traveled along the colorado plateau front and was impressed with much of the area it encountered the description of little salt lake valley is typical of the locations chosen for settlement in southern utah a handsome expansive plain of very rich land consist- ing partly of overflowed wire grass meadows all of which it is judged might be drained and cultivated other portions of this plain werewe- e dry and level delightful for the plow and clothed with rich meadow grass rabbit weed and etc the soil was mostly a rich black loam thousands of acres of cedar constituting an almost inexhaustible supply of fuel i1 Pacarowanparowanrowan cedar city and fillmore were all founded in 1851 and the colony of beaver was established in 1856 fillmore was an 2 artificial capital of utah from its founding to 1856 it was desig- nated as capital for its central location in the territory but salt 3 lake city was firmly entrenched as the natural capital the momen- tum created by precedence of settlement at the latter location

1ibidbibidbid p 47 9 2anaanan artificial capital is one which is built all at once to fill a role of administration Q 3aaaA natural capital is one which evolves through its acquired momenrmomenamomentumum 48 finally returned the seat of government to salt lake city this area developed as utahs core region with salt lake city being the cul- tural center of gravity the inner cordon was extended farther southward with the establishment of st george in 1861 settlement became more random following youngs death in 1877 colonists began moving deeper into the great basin and colorado plateau regions but the inner cordon pattern is reflected even today in the present population distribu- tion outer cordon settlement the outer cordon of settlement consists of those colonies established on the fringes of the great basin some of them were economic in nature while others were the result of missionary zeal the carson valley settlement originated as a supply station 2 for travelers bound for the california goldfieldsgoldfields the trade was taken over by mormon colonists in 1851 and the continued influx of settlers resulted in the city of genoa in 1856 mormon prosperity was intinteruptedinterruptederupted in 1857 by the utah war colonists returning to utah during the conflict were forced to abandon their settlement to the gentiles rumors of california wealth tempted many mormon settlers in utah A group of colonists left utah for californiaCalifornianid in 1851 against

A core region is the settlement area in which is located the principle institutions of economic political and social life 9 2leonardbleonardleonard J arrington great basin kinkingdom lincoln univer- sity of nebraska press 1958 p 85 49 brigham youngyoungs better judjudgementgement and founded the colony of san ber- nardino roberts and others have written that the colony prospered 1 and defaulted only as a result of the utah war research by wood however indicates that the settlement had already failed as a mor 20 mon colony prior to 1857 as a result of apostasy from the church jim bridger and his associates early established a post along the oregon trail to profit from trade with immigrants several mormon businessmen sensed the lucrative market and began intercep- ting immigrant parties bound for fort bridger the Mountainmountainmenmen suf feredcered substantial loss in business and retaliated by inciting indians 3 against the Morcormonsmormonsmons this led to a warrant for bridgers arrest and he fled the territory the cormonsmormons built fort supply near fort bridger in 1853 this was a final blow to fort bridger trade and the remaining Mountainmountainmenmen sold out to the cormonsmormons for 8000 both forts were burned by the cormonsmormons as a defensive measure during the utah war the site of became an important watering hole on 4 the road to california as early as 1847 brigham young decided to establish a permanent colony there in 1855 to settle the indians of the area another group was called by brigham young to go to las 5 vegas to mine lead ore in 1856 neither missionary nor miner met

eroberts1robertsroberts A comprehensive history of the church vol4volvoi 4 p 245 hunter Bbrigham young the colonizer p 85 2 ajoseph2josephjoseph S wood the mormon settlement in san bernardino 1851 1857 n unpublished phd thesis university of utah 1969 shunter3hunter3hunter brigham young the colonizer p 300 4ibidbibidbid p 345 5arringtonbarringtonarrington great basin kingdom p 127 50 with much success however and the colony was finally liquidated in 1868 fort limhi and the elk mountain mission were also established to settle indians of the region in 1855 fort limhi was located far to the north of salt lake on the salmon river it experienced successive crop failure and had trouble getting supplies past ho- 1 stile indians of the area elk mountain was isolated on the colorado plateau and also experienced severe harassment from indians both missions were finally abandoned during the utah war in 1858 the outer cordon represents efforts to establish colonies away from the heartland of mormon settlement whether established by economic venture or millenialmilmillenniallenial missionary fervor most of the col- onies were eventually abandoned by Morcormonsmormonsmons territorial reductions apostasy economic failure hostile indians and the utah war were all factors which compounded to limit mormon expansion outside of utah proper the mormon corridor brigham young was intent upon building a strong self sufficient mormon settlement area in the great basin to do so would require a large mormon population and proselytizing activity was stepped up accordingly missionaries were sent to numerous foreign countries and regions within the united states between 1849 and 1852 those who embraced the new faith were encouraged to 20 immigrate as speedily as possible the oregon trail

lunterhunter brigham young the colonizer p 359 eroberts2robertsroberts A comprehensive history of the church vol 3 p 310 51

route which was followed by utahs first mormon immigrants had many disadvantages it was impassible during the winter and outfittersoutfitters charged excessively high prices for wagons and teams 1 on the other hand the road from california to utah was open year around and the Q distance and cost were less than that of the oregon trail 2 brigham young in 1851 recorded his desire to establish a route from cali- fornia to utah amasa M lyman and charles C rich lefleftt this place for the purpose of establishing a settlement in california at no great distance from san diego between which and iron county we design to establish settlements as speedilysppedily as possible to have a continued line of stations and places of refreshment between this point and the pacific 3 hunter speculates that the mormon corridor as shown in figure 8 was intended to funnel immigration from the port of san 4 diego to salt lake city san mardinobernardinoBe was to be the principle outfittingoutwittingoutfitting station and las vegas was to serve as the half way sta- tion along the route the port for immigrant ships prior to 1854 was at new 5 orleans from there the mormon immigrants traveled up the missis- sippi to st louis they then traveled overland to one of the many outfittingoutwittingout fitting stations in iowa and prepared to cross the plains to utah the immigrant port was shifted to new york city following the 1854 6 outbreak of malaria and cholera epidemics on the rivers

hunter brigham youngyoun the colonizer p 72 2ibidbibidbid bibid3ibidbid p 77 4ibidbibidabdlbd 5 arrington great basin kingdom p 104 61bi6 ibid 52

brigham young pleaded in vain for shippers to land the imm- igrants at san diego so that the mormon corridor route could be utiliz- 1 ed san diego served as port for immigrants coming from the south seas but their numbers were insignificant when compared with the 2 tens of thousands of european immigrants landing at eastern ports the mainstream of mormon immigrants passed through eastern outfit ting stations and traveled the great plains route to utah the mormon corridor principrincipleprinciplyply functioned as a supply route to import seed animals and manufactured goods from california it was never heavily used for immigration

hunter brigham young the colonizer p 78 2ibidbibidbid p 106 CHAPTER V

development

cultural and economic patterns became firmly entrenched in utahs landscape during the latter nineteenth century period of de- velopment the wasatch front strengthened its position as core region while foreign immigration created a cultural melting pot efforts were made to tame the indians and a federal army was sent against the Morcormonsmormonsmons many functional towns came and went while the mormon village provided the basic form of settlement isolation was vanquished as the nation was united by telegraph railroad and in- dustry utahs mining boom stimulated manufacturing and agricul- tural markets within the state new methods of farming resulted in increased production while grazing also became an important part of the economy all of these developments prepared utah for the age of modernization which followed

population utah was meagerly occupied by trappers and indians prior to 1847 then came the cormonsmormons and 2095 of them were settled along 1 the wasatch front by the end of the year many more immigrants followed and by 1850 there was a population of 11380 listed for utah

eroberts1robertsroberts A comprehensive history of the church vol 3 p 301 53 54 territory in the U S census most of the settlers were attracted to the fertile valleys along the wasatch and colorado plateau fronts figure 9 on page 55 illustrates that the bulk of population was living in utahs seven original counties in 1852 this initial settlement pattern established the precedent for future population distribution the perpetual immigration fund was established to aid mormon immigrants in the expense of traveling to utah it was organized in 1849 and gave aid to over 100000 immigrants during its thirty eight 1 years of operation the decade between 1850 and 1860 was one of vigorous missionary activity and utahs population increased four- fold during this perior the population growth rate as a percentage decreased in succeeding years nevertheless the number of people in utah doubled from 1860 to 1870 and doubled again between 1870 2 and 1890 immigrants coming to utah after the period of initial col- onization were attracted to settlements where friends or relatives had proceededpre cqeded themchem population thus continued to accumulate along the wasatch front where initial colonies were located settlers be- gan occupying the plateau region in the 1880s after valleys along the wasatch and colorado plateau fronts had become crowded their numbers remained insignificant however when compared with the population concentration along the wasatch front salt lake city remained the cultural economic and political center of gravity in

1arringtonbarringtonarrington great basin kinkingdom p 382 2 2uauU S census of population 1890 sefsafsees8f vav& S

population growth 1890

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1 1 55. J atlarlwrt sitsir lk whinlnwhinonWhinln 1 1 K 7 40 figure 9 ln J al3 56 utah and continued to attract population to the wasatch front throughout the early settlement period this is indicated by the population distribution in 1890 as shown in figure 9 this trend has continued to the present with seventy eight percent of the states population located in weber davis utah and salt lake counties 1 utahs population pattern is the result of a strong core region with outlying areas entering a onwarddwonwarddw transitional trend A principle reason for the development of this strong core region is its role as the capital of mormonism

immigration the great basin was a vast area and the cormonsmormons sought strength in numbers to develop all of its resources and occupy all of its fertile valleys the cormonsmormons numbered only about 57000 in 1846 as they were making preparation for their exodus to the great 2 basin upon arriving in utah they estimated that one valley alone 3 could hold that many people A massive missionary effort was mounted in 1847 and converts were encouraged to emigrate to utah and help build the kingdom thousands responded and utah soon began to swell with immigrants about one fourth of the territorysTerri torys population was of foreign 4 extraction as late as 1890 the majority of foreign immigrants came

1roylanceroylance utahs geography and counties p 69 2 eroberts2robertsroberts A comprehensive history of the church vol 2 p 536 shunter3hunter3hunter brigham young the colonizer p 47

A 4uauU S census of population 1890 57 from scandinaviascandanaviaScandanavia germany switzerland and the british isles 1 they settled throughout the area and significantly effected the cultural landscape figure 10 on page 58 indicates that the majority of foreign immigrants were of english stock in san pete and sevier counties jhlqwevejh q me r thescandanaviansthe S candanavians predominated ththeyey occupied these counties from earliest times and S candanaviansscandinaviansscandanavians coming to utah later were continually attracted to that area by friends and rela 2 tives the ethnic heading other in figure 10 includes chinese french and italian the large portion of other in grand county in 1890 was composed mostly of chinese they came into that area as a labor force building the denver & rio grande railroad during the 1880s the ethnic heading of german includes swiss immigrants the swiss were extremely active in helping to shape the economies of cach and washington counties the first settlers to cache valley suffered greatly from a severe winter in 1857 the swiss who arrived there in 1859 however found the climate to their liking the cool mountain environment of 3 cache valley reminded them of their native switzerland they cor- responded this perception back to their friends in switzerland and as a result there was a boom of swiss immigration to utah in 1860 the swiss were dairymen by trade and they pioneered several cheese factories in cache valley the valleys reputation grew in succeed- ing years and it became a hub of agricultural activity in utah

1ibidbibidbid 2 shunter2hunterhunter brigham youngY bung2ungaunggung the colonizercolonijser p 270

Q 3joeljoeljoei E ricks history of a valley salt lake city deseret press 1956 p 43 0 0 Z 0 0

figure 10 59 the cache valley dairy association was producing more swiss cheese 1 than all of switzerland by 1956 A group of swiss immigrants was directed to washington county by brigham young in 1861 he had apparently perceived the feasabeasa bilityability of combining swiss wine technology with the warm climate of 0 southern utah to produce wine for the holy sacrament 2 the cotton mission presents still another example of cul- tural economic adeptness brigham young was aware of the need to produce textiles within the territory he planned a cotton mission in southern utah and sent converts from texas alabama and missis sippi to assure the ventures success 3 these southerners were ex- perienperiencedced cotton growers and their cultural economic ability was used to create a in utah

indian relations the first mormon settlers into utah found several different groups of indians iinn the are a utah was occupied byshby siroahonsiloSiroosshonahonone to the north ute to the east koshutegoshute to the west and paiute to the south each group comprised several small bands which subsisted by hunting and gatheringgatheripging the appearance of white settlers provided the utah indians opportunity to trade but they often resented trespasses upon their huntinghun ting lands utah did not suffer gross indian warfare as occurred elsewhere on the american frontier but several minor

1ibidbibidbid p 254 2arringtonbarringtonarrington great basin kinkingdom p 216 3 3journaljournal of discourses vol 9 appp 113114113 114 60

disturbances did occur both the walker war 185318541853 1854 and the blackhawk war 186518681865 1868 resulted in numerous deaths the reason for utahs relatively peaceful settlement may be attributed to momormonrmoamon adianudianindian1 policy A common belief in the last century was that all mankind had a common origin according to bibli- cal account the Morcormonsmormonsmons among other sects believed that the american indian originated from ancient israel they felt a sacred obligation to christianize the indian and approached him with an ataltitudeti oe of ffriendship brigham young stated that it would be ghecheaperopeqpk to feed tthehp indians than fight them we shoot them down as we would a wild dog now this is all wrong and not in harmony with the spirit of christianity in only one instance that of william penn has christian treat- ment been accorded them but even aside from the aspect of christian duty I1 am satisfied it will be cheaper to feed them than fight them 2 thus the mormon settlers hoped to peacefully occupy indian lands through welfare rather than warfare several missions were ororganizedgani zed ta teach the indiansabsans a sedentary way of life indian farms were established to teach the natives to live as the white man figure 11 on page 61 indicates that most of these indian farms were located near areas of mormon settlement along the wasatch 3 and colorado plateau fronts they went hand in hand with the estab- lishlishmentment of mormon colonies throughout the area thejarmsthe jarmsfarms at deep creek spanish fork san pete and corn creek were also official

hunter brigham young the colonizer p 312 2ibidbibidbid p 313 3 smuch3muchmuch of the information for this map was derived from richard H jackson the mormon indian farm A strategy of cultural interaction unpublished paper 1973 41M as 777w7 61 indian farmsforms & reserves

wthathwsh ki 0 1 0

10 0 10 30 50 scalascalescaia of milos

sitsiisli taklokiok city

skil v11yvily 1864

uintah reservereserva deep creek 1864 1870 spanish fork 1656 1pap

figure 11 62

1 reservations of the territory indian farms at firstmetwithfirst met with mode- atesuccessrate success and officials encouraged the settlers to continue working 2 with the indians farms deteriorated in later years 19 however due 3 to poor management and repeated crop failure indians began leaving the farms and turned to stealing and begging to avoid starvation rising conflict led to removal of the indians to the newly creacreateded uintah reserve in 1864 several tribes resisted but the blackhawk war resulted in their submission only the koshutegoshute tribe preferred extinction to removal and the deep creek reservation was created for them on their homeland in 1870 cormonsmormons continued to farm with small groups of indians in a few places most of the native ameri- cans however remained on the uintah reserve as wards of the federal government

the utah war the first ten years of mormon settlement was a period of prolific expansion but a period of conflict followed which retarded colonization the gentiles of utah were in constant conflict with cormonsmormons over business and government they made several accusations which depicted the cormonsmormons as being in a state of rebellion against the united states government president buchanan hastily dispatched an army numbering 2500 to quell the supposed mormon rebellion in 1857 the cormonsmormons perceived the troops as an invading force coming

aneff1neffeff history of utah 184718691847 1869 p 383 2 shunter2hunterhunter brigham young the colonizer p 315 3 aneff3neffeff history of utah 184718691847 1869p 388 63 I1 to drive them from their lands once again figure 12 on page 64 shows that the invading US army first met mormon resistance as they approached south pass the mormon army was ordered to pursue a defensive strategy of harassment on ascertaining the locality and route of the troops US troops proceed at once to annoy them in every possible way use every exertion to stampede their animals and set fire to their trains bumburn the whole country before them and on their flanks keep them from sleeping by night surprises blockade the road by felling trees or destroying the fords when you can watch for opportunities to set fire to on the grass their windward so as if possible to envelope 2 their trains leave no grass before them that can be burned the cormonsmormons hoped to defeat their opponents by devastating the environment in a scorched earth policy they engaged supply trains emerging from south pass and the federal army was forced into winter encampment at camp scott near fort bridger meanwhile the cormonsmormons built fortifications along the walls of echo canyon in antici- pation that the invaders would march on salt lake city by that route peaceful negotiations were concluded by spring and it was determined that the new federal appointed governor would come to salt lake city without military escort the army was to follow at a later date and establish their residence outside of the mormon settlement area governor cummings arrived on april 8 1858 and the army followed on june 26 the army marched throuthroughthroughaghaa deserted salt lake city however as the inhabitants had fled southward to

eroberts1robertsroberts A comprehensive history of the church vol 4 p 240 2 2arringtonbarringtonarrington great basin kingdom p 175 utah warwor 65

1 provo for fear of reprisal by the troops the army marched directly to a valley west of utah valley and established camp floyd the cormonsmormons soon returned to their homes and utah entered a new era of development the federal troops provided a lucrative market for agriculture and business and much economic activity resulted utah greatly benefited from surplus left behind by the army when it was called back east during the civil war in 1861

settlement expansion many other towns were established in utah aside from those already mentioned in the discussion of colonization figure 13 on page 66 shows the location of several and classifies them into three categories miscellaneous settlements include railroad towns military posts supply depots lumber camps and communications centers agricultural settlement forms the backbone of the state and reflects the mormon rural ethic mining settlements were asso- ciated with ore strikes which provided an important economic stimulus to utah many of the towns shown in figure 13 echo economic surges while others were simply colonies which failed the development of utah settlement becomes apparent as one notes the dates and functions of varivarlvariousous towns agricultural settle- ment first occurred along the edge of the great basin during the 1850s1850 the 1880s witnessed a surge of agricultural expansion as farmers and herdersgerders moved onto the plateau region the coming of the railroads led to numerous construction towns which lasted only a few years

ebidabid1ibidbibidlbid p 183 boomroom towns 67 an even greater number of boom towns accompanied the mining era numerous ore strikes were made in utah from 1863 through the 1890s and scores of towns were built only to be abandoned when the economieconome cally recoverable ore was exhausted corinne alta and ft harmony indicated by enlarged symbols in figure 13 present interesting stories which are typical of utah 1 boom towns

the mormon vilviivillage joseph smith in 1833 drew up a plat forfor the city of it represents his conception of the ideal city and some writers have 20 suggested that mormon villages in utah were modeledaftermodelemodeled afterdafter it closer

acorinne1corinnecorinne presents a case in land speculation it was antici- pated that the union pacific and central pacific railroads would join somewhere north of great salt lake and that a town in that vicinity would become utahs railroad center corinne sprang up overnight to fill the role but the anti mormon attitude and vice which developed there gave brigham young cause to wish the towns dissolution he persuaded the railroads to locate their terminal at ogden and corinne died almost as rapidly as it was born alta exemplifies the mining boom in utah this one street town was built high in the rocky mountains in 1866 the short tundra growing season at altas location prevented agriculture and food had to be imported from the valleys below miners strippedthestrippstrippededthethe steep canyon walls of trees for use as tunnel butressesbuttressesbutresses in the mines As a result snow accumulation had little vegetative support to hold it on the slopes and avalanches constantly threatened the town alta was finally abandoned in 1895 as the mines became exhausted of ores ft harmony was built as a mormon agricultural settlement in 1854 the principal material used in construction was A severe storm of several weeks duration occurred during the winter of 1861 1862 the adobe structures dissolved in the heavy wet snow several deaths resulted from collapse of walls and exposure and the survivors finally abandoned their town this incident no doubt taught settlers to respect climate in their choice of building materials in the future 29 lowry nelson the mormon village A pattern and technique of land settlement salt lake city university of utah press 1954 68 analysis however reveals that such was not the case the city of zion calls forfor a plat one mile square divided into ten acre blocks each block containing eight lots the center tier of blocks were to be larger and used for temples and schools agricultural activity was to occur outside of the city limits in the surrounding countryside lots were oriented such that homes would face an alternate direction of those on adjacent blocks structures were to be of brick or stone and lots were to be beauti- fully landscaped population was to be limited to 20000 inhabitants the plat of salt lake city in 1870 as shown in figure 14 on page 69 reveals some similarity to the city of zion but many dif- ferenferencesces should also be noted the most obvious similarity is in the alternating orientation of lots A degree of privacy was achieved by having homes facing alternate directions to those of adjacent blocks city of zion block and lot sizes were at first adhered to but deviated as salt lake city expanded onto the hilly land to the northeast commons such as the temple block were at first located in the center of town but public squares and buildings were created outward as the city expanded laytonlayton has noted that land use was 2 not specified in mormon villages commercial and industrial zones rather evolved naturally jackson has further noted that agricultural activity in mormon villages was carried on within the city limits rather than being confined to outlying areas as called for by the city

eroberts1robertsroberts A comprehensive history of the church vol 1 p 311 2 arobert2robertrobert L laytonlayton an analysis of landuseland use in keivewelvetwelve com- munitiesmuni ties in utah valley utah county utah unpublished phd dissertation university of syracuse 1962 I1

salt lake city

1870 A ej

F I1 F I1 F I1 F I1 F 1 10 1 F 1 F 1 e11100111 el 10 I I L ddddddndddddl e10000 el1 el DDDDDDDD I1 public sciaresclarescioresqara EH EHMIIII DDDDDDDD 2 arnnalarsenal 111111 OUR 1 DDel 3 theatre rig FH PH E EI EI el el el fl H iiiili LLLU tradtrbd inLUU 1 DDI 4 UCRR dpotapotdepotdepoi j E fridri0 MMI D 5 77umi W H N r- DD0 temple blackblock 1ctctapiw IB MEB EE M EE EJ E D 6 church offices pim 11 eilelleliIII111 EE liiriiIIIpli111 efeIINeenEEI E M el D II D 7 brigham young residencesrekiReliregl dencedancedanca HI MMIE DEEI E i8 a i JDDDDD derretdeseretdegrat university aj4jn L fal fal ebdidiljj Isasfflddddd1 ffl ffl 9 social hall HM err ah1h rg M hfflhafl M ffu L 100 courthouse el 11I1 Ccityity hall 11 1 el 12 public sciaresclare 133 public sciaresclaresciara IT RE I1 af9ffl M ME M H N el 14 public sqara eiqeiaeig ti rd pg r2ra12 PH RM PH M 11 D i IMSDILJOF word boundaries EJ F I F I1 EP ra p9pa ER H ME RM 1 F el Nel FI H r9 R 9 fl M N 91 10 E D el EJ PH 9mam PH 19 p9pa eebebe p9pa H M IH ff el el 11 faf1L F M EN kh H HE M M HO M H el el el FI1 11 ie711 ah1h IH ED EH RT EP EE EP HE M2 N elFI1 el 1 314 114i E el EDi i EF i 4 tikatik4p M H RH E RM M HE M HE M eblebb FI1 el el

figure 14 70 1 of zion it is also noted that building materials and city size is not specified in mormon villages and varies greatly the wide streets and grid pattern which characterize mormon villages were likely adopted from the pattern of midwesternmid western rather than from the city of zion plat 29 the mormon village cannot be characterized as adhering to any rigid plan of development several cultural influences are evident but the patterns which emerged are probably a function of physical environment and economic development

vanishing isolation lines of communication and transportation were advanced with the expanding american frontier the great basin isolaisolationtion which brigham young had achieved for cormonsmormons vanished as west and east were linked through stage wire and rail the overland stage line had its origin in 1852 as people and merchandise gravitated toward california salt lake city was an important freight station on the stage line as early as 1858 the principle route lay between atchison kansas and san francisco as shown in figure 15 on page 71 the overland stage was later driven out of business by the railroad but continued to run until 1895 in some areas the cormonsmormons established an alternative to the overland stage line in 1856 they organized the brigham young express to carry

arichard1richardrichard H jackson the mormon village analysis of a settlement type unpublished paper brigham young univ department of geography 1973 2ibidbibidbid figure 15 72 freight passengers and mail between salt lake city and independence missouri several way stations were established along the route mail contracts obtained by the company were a prinprincipaprincipalcipa1 factor flaring gentile jealousy of cormonsmormons and precipitating the utah war many of the way stations were burned by the cormonsmormons during the utah war but others remained intact to serve the overland stage pony express and transcontinental telegraph in later years 1 the transcontinental telegraph was pushed to completion upon outbreak of the civil war in 1861 from council bluffs it follwedhollwed the platte river to south pass went through salt lake city and cut directly across the great basin and sierrasierranevadanevada range to california many cormonsmormons found employment supplying the telegraph line with poles as it crossed utah the cormonsmormons built a telegraph line of their own in 1867 As illustrated in figure 15 it ran along the wasatch and colorado plateau fronts from logan to st george and had a branch extending into san pitch valley the deseret telegraph served to consolidate mormon settlement through effective communications it joined the transcontinental line at salt lake ctiychiy to link utah with the rest of the nation the most monumental achievement during this era was co- mpletion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 the railroad built a direct line passage between cheyenne wyoming and ogden rather than following the oregon trail route it skirted the north end of great salt lake and followed the california trail to sacramento

1arringtonbarringtonarrington great basin kingdom p 170 73 the railroad provided an effective means of rapidly transporting freight and passengers across the country

Drailroads4 1 A the railroad was the most powerful single initiator of economic 1 growth in utah the union pacific act of 1862 provided for the co- stnstructionruction of a transcontinental railroad the union pacific railroad built westward from council bluffs while the central pacific railroad built eastward from sacramento the two rails joined at promontory summit in utah on may 10 1869 brigham young desperately wanted the route to go south of great salt lake so that it would go through salt lake city 2 railroad officials decided that a northern route around the lake provided more timber and water however and the 3 mormon capital was thus excluded the central jacifpacifpacificic entered utah near pilot peak as shown in figure 16 on page 74 while the union pacific forged into utah through the wasatch range A third major railroad into utah was the denver & rio grande it completed its line through eastern utah in 1883 and connected with the union pacific at ogden the building of these railroads into utah gave the state access to markets in the east and on the west coast the next step was to extend the tracks throughout utah to tap abundant natural resources immediately following the joining of the rails at promontory

1leonardbleonardleonard J arrington the transcontinental railroad and the development of the west utah historical quarterly XXVII winter 1969 p 3 2arrington great basin kingdom p 160 bibid3ibidbid figure 16 75 cormonsmormons began building a line to link salt lake city with the rail head at ogden the utah central railroad was completed within a year and provided daily freight and passenger service between the two towns the utah southern railroad was merely an extension of the utah central and was intended to link southern settlements with salt lake city it was anticipated that the utah southern would pro 1 aidedvided transportation of ores from beaver and iron counties the line reached nephi by 1879 meanwhile the utah northern railroad was built to tap the rich agricultural produce of cache valley it eventually went into territory and carried supplies to 2 mines in addition to these three principal mormon railroads the church also had part in several smaller extension lines officials began looking to coal as a fuel resource after the timber supply in utah had been exhausted cormonsmormons built the summit county railroad to ship alvillecoalvilleCo coal to the main union pacific line at echo the union pacific had a lucrative business importing wyoming coal however and forced the mormon line to close by charging excessively to trantranshiptransshipship the mormon coal from echo to the valley the cormonsmormons continued to resist the union pacificpacifics monopoly and started the utah eastern railroad in 1880 to extend the railhead to park city where mines were booming the union pacific again foiled the cormonsmormons by gaining control of stock in both the summit county and utah eastern railroads the union pacific operatedcooperatedco with the Morcormonsmormonsmons however to tap the mines in rush valley the utah western railroad provided for the transportation of ores from stockton

bidibid p 277 2ibidbibidbid p 283 76 to salt lake city the mines of southern utah additionally motivated railroad expansion the utah southern extension line was built ffromrom nephi to frisco between 1879 and 1881 numerous smaller extension lines were built throughout utah in succeeding years the railroads provided markets for utah goods reduced travel times enabled factories to locate near resources made possible the importation of heavy machinery for industry flooded the territory with manufactured goods and provided many jobs and much new capital to the state the most important industry to be stimulated by the railroads was that of mining mining activity in utah lay dormant for lack of adequate transportation preceproceedingeding the railroad and only obtained full development after 1869

minmining

A contingent of US troops were stationed near salt lake city during the civil war colonel patrick connor used his soldiers to search utahs mountains for precious ores the first mines in utah were opened by cormonsmormons at the cedar city iron mission in 1850 the discovery of galena by connors men in bingham canyon in 1863 en- couragedcouraged further prospecting and several mining districts soon came into istanceexistanceexistenceex figure 17 on page 77 reveals the location of several of these mining districts in 1875 they are noticeably absent from the plateau region where stratigraphic formations constitute much of the physical landscape most ores deposits were found asso- ciated with batholiths of the rocky mountain and great basin regions

aa 1aA batholith is a large igneous mass and its nature favors the formation of ores about it figure 17 78 most of the mines produced a combination of ores including silver gold copper iron lead and zinc the principal ore mined is indicated for several of the districts in figure 17 by use of chemical symbols coal was mined on the plateau region and later became a much more important industry in utah salt and phosphate deposits were also mined at an early time the climax of mining in utah occurred during the 1870t1870s s and 1880s surface deposits were exhausted by 1885 and only the larger companies remained in business by digging deep shafts into the earth one may gain greater appre- ciation for the railroads stimulus to utah mining by examining some production statistics silver production jumped from 1750 ounces in 1869 preceedingproceedingpreceeding the railroad to 473182 ounces in 1871 after the railroad was in operation the value of ore exports rose from 200000 in 1869 to 3000000 in 1871 and to 7000000 in 2 1875

the mining industry brought much growth and development to utah it provided income from export of ores and supplied the state with raw materials for manufacturing

manufacturimanufacturemanufacturing mountain streams flowing into the valleys of mormon settlement provided adequate power for the establishment of mills the two principal types of mills during the period of early settlement were

1leonardbleonardleonard J arrington abundance from the earth utah historical quarterly XXXI summer 1963 p 217 aneff2neffeff history of utah 184718691847 1869 p 644 79 1 grist mills and saw mills several mills were operating in each of 20 the valleys of settlement as early as 1851 milling activity had greatly expanded by 1870 as both stream and water were utilized for 3 power figure 18 on page 80 indicates that lumber milling exceeded flour milling in most of the counties of utah in 1870 this reflects the flurry of building activity which accompanied both railroad and mining other manufacturing activities during this period were leather tanning woolen mills distilling liquors crush- 4 ing quartz producing molasses and machining metal the cormonsmormons began an independent campaign of industrial de- velopment in 1851 brigham young was concerned for the loss of money from the territory through importing manufactured goods he therefore 5 urged the people to produce their own goods through home industry the doctrine of self sufficiency also motivated the cormonsmormons to estab- lish manufactoriesmanufactories for iron products wine cotton sugar poetry and paper in this manner they hoped to eliminate their dependancedependencedependance 6 upon gegltilegeijitile goods and services the mormon ethic of self sufficiency is evident even today in a massive church program which urges families to maintain a stored supply of food and necessities

agrist1gristgrist mills pulverized grains to manufacture flour and saw mills cut logs into lumber to be used for building 2larsonblarson2 larson outline history of territorial utah p 176 3usausUS census of manufacturing 1870 4ibidbibidbid 5arringtonbarringtonarrington great basin kingdom p 113 61bdbibid6ibid value of 80s manufacturing 1870

21500 principal manufacturing industries cache lumbrlumberlumbar milling lourflour milling

wb 8b8bb S di ma D Uuii11iibibibi m9 1 22509 122654I 18800 sit take utah 90000

49119 sk

20766 066590 2892892.89 san paipeipat 17325

35000

figure 18 81 agriculture the mormon pioneers planted seed immediately upon arriving in salt lake valley in 1847 A great contribution which mormon farmers made to great basin agriculture was the propinationpropigation of irrigation they made reservoirs in the mountains and built canals to carry the water onto fields in the valleys they channeled mountain streams onto their fields most of the canals were co- operatively built and by 1865 there were 1043 miles of canal in utah providing irrigation for 150000 acres of land 1 the area to be farmed was further expanded by dry farming techniques figure 19 on page 82 shows the amount of wheat yielded in utah counties at ten year intervals the tremendous increase in cache county 2 after 1870 may be attributed directly in the success of dry farming wheat was the most abundant crop in utah but other products were also harvested maize was heavily planted when the cormonsmormons first arrived in utah but it declined in later years giving way to oats and 3 potatoes cropland was mainly confined to valleys along the eastern edge of the great basin where soils were most fertile and rainfall most abundant the colorado plateau region remained relatively void of production as indicated in figure 19 for lack of fertile agri- cultural conditions and population several years were noted for agricultural disaster drought was a recurring threat in spite of the irrigation system soils dried

1larsonblarsonlarson outline history of territorial utah p 173 aricks2ricksicks history of a valley p 207

Q 3usausUS census of agriculture 1870 whealwheat

0 so chC h r 40 thousands 30 thrichlickklch I1 of bullbubibushels graph legend buhl 20

10

1501850 18601160 18701170 issoisaolabo 18901090

year

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inxgnificani wolhinglon kirkig

figure 19

J 83 out and reservoirs remained small during years of little rainfall locusts were another curse to the area utah lay only in a temporary breeding ground of the rocky mountain locust but once the plague 1 came it devastated the entire region the most severe locust inva- sion or record occurred in 1855 and was witnessed by many they the locusts come suddenly millions of them and every green way even thrown eat thing in their shawls or sheets 2 over plants or trees to protect them would be quickly destroyed sheep and cattle grazing were also important in the economy of early utah several accounts attest to the quality of rangelands and grazing activity there are thousands of acres which produce in great abundance nutritious grasses upon which cattle horses and mules can subsist and thrive the year round some of the finest breeds can be found in utah and this business is beginning to be appreciated3asappreciated as the mosmostt lucrative in which the inhabitants can be engaged figure 20 on page 84 shows the pattern of grazing activity in utah grazing was most intense to the north of salt lake city in 1850 as settlement was moving northward settlement began moving into southwestern utah in 1860 and washington county heavily engaged grazing activity grazing decreased in northern utah during the 1870s with the exception of weber and morgan counties which estab- lished dairy industries some outside businessmen noticed the quality of utah ranges during the 1880s and established a large cattle ranch

lbrownbrown historical geographygeo raphy of the united states p 386 2arringtonbarrington2arrington great basin kingdom p 149 blarson3larson3larson outline history of territorial utah p 174 i W taisyraisy i 040mffi 40000 0 g st cattle grazing

1850 1860

me C go t w4waBE relatirerelativeRela tire gragrazingzing intensityininlntnlintn illy 0off neat cattle Q W D fa do D i st ea T T SL m e3 Z GR I1 a ii high I1 loss ut I1 C U I1 I1 I1 counties s flSP countr

B G it 01 gkk SP so at I1 nw iz SE toB eldeideidleidoeldo 1 iroil11. 5 55. C caskcash i jb sh shbipfhshaipalwbip SP CC d K kanK g swS Ssu i cliar en mt D Ddaardavr1.1 mam tamaiamalamain d1I I1 toorooT 1 do dartdarr miM i milldmill ard U uithuindinaith lalraktok E vtsootyemoryemery M mgmor gon utU ulahutahutautouha h go gnfildgarigorigorf ld P pitpig wlwt wthathwewih latchselchsmich G cronjcronaG d a richkith Wwo we ihingtonivingtonwashington G G r d 6 L S at1t L k W wb j SJj sanisanjS J uan I1

00 4 figure 20 85 in emery county overgrazing and drought eventually drove them out of business however and utahs cattle industry shifted southward to the san juan area sheep herding was also an important activity sheep made a duel contribution to the economy they provided meat for food and wool for clothing sheepherders received special tax allowances to 2 aid their production as the wool industry increased in importance

1faunfaun M tanner A history of moab moab times independent press 1937 p 45 2larsonblarson2larson outline history of territorial utah p 175 CHAPTERCHAP TE R VI

conclusion

maps may be used to great advantage to illustrate the settle- ment geography of a region A map creates a visual image enabling the reader to better perceive patterns of settlement in the man land relationship it stimulates interest and creates greater apprecia- tion for the historical geography involved the preceedingproceedingpreceeding maps have shown many visual correlations which magnify the inseparability of the man land relationship through maps the reader was afforded a perception of the role of landlandformsforms in directing mans movements settlers observance of water resources natural vegetation and soils is evident in their choice of settlement locations maps illustrating routes of movement en albed the reader to understand the extent of exploration and the directions of immigration maps dealing with boundaries were sig- nificnificantant in visually declaring the evolution of utah as a territory and state the section on colonization has hopefully raised ques- tions concerning spatial patterns and mormon policies the location of settlement was perhaps best emphasized through analysis of popula- tion distribution in early utah the location of foreign immigrant settlement is also important in understanding the evolution of the cultural landscape A map which has long been absent from litera- ture is the one illustrating indian farms and reserves in early utah 086OK 87 the utah war is another subject which has been much written about but has remained visually obscure the map of boom towns is signifi- cant in portraying the extent of settlement and the functional as- pect of town the plat of salt lake city was another map intended to raise questions concerning traditional literature on mormon set- tltlementement patterns of communication and transportation illustrated utahs role as crossroad of the west while the railroad map accentu- ated internal development A noticeable correlation between physical landscape and economic activity was shown by the distribution of mining districts in early utah the maps on manufacturing and wheat production both reflect the intensity of settlement activity along the wasatch front the map on cattle grazing is a final illustrat- ion showing the location and diffusion of economic activity all of these maps together present a visual interpretation which has hopefully brought the reader to a greater understanding of early utah settelsettelmentment to the writer this project has been an exercise in carto- graphic design it has hinted at the enormous task involved in co- mpiling an atlas and of the intricacies to systematic production

A most important lesson learned is the tremendous need for planning the assurance of consiconsistancyconsistencystancy in a series of mapsmaps can only be achieved through complete planning from the broadest overview to the samllestsamllest detail A mature cartographic design must be the cartographers foremost objective SELECTED bibliography

books arrington leonard J great basin kingdom lincoln university of of nebraska press 1958 bannon john francis ed bolton and the spanish borderlands norman university of oklahoma press 1968 bannon john francis the spanish borderlands frontier new york holt rinehart and winston 1970 brown ralph H historical geography of the united states new york harcourt brace and world inc 1948 carr stephen L utah ghost towns salt lake city western epics 1972 creer leland H the founding of an empire salt lake city boo- kcraft 1948 hafen leroy H colorado the story of a western commonwealth denver peerless publishing 1933 hulse james W the nevada adventure reno university of nevada press 1972 hunter milton R brigham young the colonizer salt lake city peregrine smith inc 1973 larson gustive 0 outline history of territorial utah provo brigham young university press 1972 larson T A history of byominwyominwyoming lincoln university of nebraska press 1965 neff andrew love history of utah 1847 1869 salt lake city deseret press 1940 ricks joel E historyofhistory ofof a valley salt lake city deseret press 1956 roberts brigham H A Ccomprehensiverehensiveprehensive history of the church in six volumes provo brigham young university press 1965

88 89 roylanceroylance ward J utahs geography and counties salt lake city by the author 1654 redondo ave 1967 schell herbert S history of south dakota lincoln university of nebraska press 1968 tanner faun M A history of moab moab times independent press 1937

journal articles alienallen james B the evolution of county boundaries in utah utah historical quarterly XXIII july 1955 261278261 278 arrington leonard J abundance from the earth utah historical quarterly XXXI summer 1963 192220192 220 the transcontinental railroad and the development of the west utah historical arterlyartterlyquarterlyarterly XXXVII winter 1969 3163 16 auerback herbert father escalantes journal utah historical quarterly XI 1943 campbell eugene E brigham youngs outer cordonacordon A reappraisal charles redd monographs in western history illiliIII1111974111 1974 105- 135 morgan dale H the state of deseret utah historical quarterly VIII april 1940 6723967 239 pattison W D the four traditions of geography the journal of geography XXXXXXIII 1964 211216211 216 smith george A difficulties with which the church has had to contend in its establishment of utah journal of discourses IX 109118109 118

unpublished works jackson richard H myth and reality environmental perception of the Morcormonsmormonsmons 1840 1865 an historical osophygeosophyGe unpublished phd dissertation darkclark university 1970 jackson richard H the mormon village analysis of a settlement type unpublished paper brigham young university 1973

the mormon indian farm A strategy of cultural inter- action unpublished paper brigham young university 1973 90 lavton robert L an analysis of land use in twelve communities in utah vallevvaclev utah county utah tunfUnpublishedunpublished phd dissertation university of syracuse 1962 wood joseoh S the mormon settlement in sand bernardino 185118571851 1857 unpublished phd thesis university of utah 1969

reference and documents seltzer leon E ed the columbia lippencott gazetteer of the world new york columbia university press 1952 US census reports 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1970 US department of agriculture weather bureau climatic summary of the united states A report on climatic data from the establishment of stations to 1930 inclusive wash DC US government printing office 1936 US senate documents XI 1844

cartobibliography froiseth B A M froiseths new sectional and mineral map of utah 1875 plat of salt lake city utah 1870 US department of the interior general land office map of the territory of utah 1866 utah department of publicity and industrial Developdevelopmentmentemento historical trails map of utah 1948 APPENDIX

REFERENCE NOTES ON MAPS

1 landformsLand forms and rivers shown in figure 1 were identified with reference to ward J roylanceroylance utahs geography and counties salt lake city by the author 1967 appp 13 15 the lakes in figure 1 are dimensionally represented as they appeared during the time of early mormon settlement the size and shape of the lakes were approximated with reference to the US army corps of engineers map of great salt lake and adjacent country in the territory of utah 1850 2 the precipitation diagram in figure 2 is based upon roylanceroylance utahs geography and counties p 30 the soils and natural vegetation diagrams in figure 2 are based upon the US department of the interior the national atlas of the united states washington DC US government printing office 1970 the diagrams in figure 2 are very general and give only a broad representation of these aspects of utahs physical geography to better orient the reader 3 the explorers trails in figure 3 were drawn with respect to physical features of the landscape along the explorerrsexplorerrs routes as described by leland H creer the founding of an empire salt lake city bookcraft 1948 reference was also made to the historical trails map of utah salt lake city utah department of publicity and industrial development 1948 4 the Survesurveryorryor trails in figure 4 were drawn with reference to the following sources leiandlelandlefand H creer the founding of an empire p 109 and historical trails map of utah 5 the migration trails shown in figure 5 were drawn with reference to the following sources ray A billington westward expansion new york the macmillan co 1960 appp 518 557 hilde H kagan the american heritage pictorial atlas of united states histhistory new york american heritage publishing co inc 1966 p 170 and brigham H roberts A comprehensive history of the church II11 provo brigham young university press 1965 6 figure 6 was drawn with reference to the following sources leroy H hafen colorado the story of a western commonwealth denver peerless publishing 1933 james W hulse the nevada adventure reno university of nevada press 1972 gustive 0 larson outline hihistory

91 92 of territorial utah provo brigham young university press 1972 T A larson history of wyoming lincoln university of nebraska press 1972 dale H morgan the state of deseret utah historical quarterly VIII april 1940 roberts A comprehensive histohistory of the church and herbert S schell history of south dakota lincoln university of nebraska press 1968 larson miller and others have expressed utahs nebraska cession shown in figure 6 as being part of the cession to colorado in 1861 research by the writer however indicates that boundaries have remained unchanged since 1861 when that state was first organized as a territory the northeastern area of the original territory of utah was actually ceded to nebraska rather than to colorado in 1861

7 figure 7 was drawn with reference to the following sources james B alienallenailen the evolution of county boundaries in utah utah historical quarterly XXXI july 1955 and roylanceroylance utahs geography and counties much has been written concerning the historical establish- ment of utah counties historians however have not dealt with the evolution of boundary forms the writer has included within the text of this thesis a brief discussion of the development of utah county boundaries in the geographical context of natural vs geometrical boundaries 8 colonies representrepresentedrepresentedinedinin figure 8 were located with refer ence to the following sources milton R hunter bribrigham younyoung the colonizer salt lakecityLakeCity peregrine smith inc 1973 appp 379383379 383 larson outline history of territorial utah p 74 and roylanceroylance utahs geography and counties p 89 9 population statistics for figure 9 were extracted from the US census of population of 1850 and of 1890 the population symbolic scheme was derived by first computing areas of circles the largest circle used was determined by the size of salt lake county on the map because that county has the largest population population values were then assigned to various size circles on basis of the array of population figures such a visual representation of population in early utah is an original contribution by the writer 10 data used for the foreign immigrant diagrams in figure 10 was derived from the US census of populationlation for 1890 this graphic representation of foreign immigrant settlement is an original contribution to the study of utah 11 the locations of indian farms shown in figure 11 were attained from the following sources richard H jackson the mormon indian farm A strategy of cultural interaction unpublished paper brigham young university 1973 and department of the interior map of the territory of utah washington DC general land office 1866 figure 11 of this thesis shows the location of more indian farms than has any previous work on the subject 93

12 information in figure 12 guardingrereguarding the utah war was attained from the following sources leonard J arrington great basin kingdom lincoln university of nebraska press 1958 and roberts A comprehensive history of the church IV 13 the locations of boom towns in figure 13 were derived from stephen L carr utah ghost towns salt lake city western epics 1972 the symbolic representation of boom towns according to their functional aspects is an original contribution by the writer 14 the 1870 plat of salt lakecityLakeCity shown in figure 14 was drawn with reference to the following sources roberts A comprehenComprecomprehendhen sive history of the church B A M froiseth plat of salt lake city 1870 and historic urban plans salt lake city 1870 1967 15 the routes of communication and transportation shown in figure 15 were drawn with reference to the following sources arrington great basin Kinadomkingdom p 166 and heun the american heritage pictorial atlas of united states history p 254 16 the railroad routes shown in figure 16 were drawn with reference to the following sources arrington great basin kingdom p 259 asher and adams map of utah 1870 B Ak M froiseth froiseths new sectional and mineral map of utah 1875 larson outline history of territorial utah p 235 and US army corps of engineers restored outline of lake bonneville 1873 the location of the utah western railroad is shown in no other contemporary work on the subject 17 the mining districts shown in figure 17 were located with reference to B A M froiseth froiseths new sectional and mineral map of utah 1875 18 statistics of manufacturing used in figure 18 were extrac- ted from the US census of manufactumanufacturing for 1870 A graphic comparison of principal manufacturing industries in early utah is an original contribution of the writer 19 statistics of wheat production presented in figure 19 were extracted from the US census for the years of 1850 1860 1870 1880 and 1890 A graphic analysis of the principal food crop grown in early utah is an original contribution of the writer 20 cattle grazing data presented in figure 20 was extracted from the US census for the years 1850 1860 187018701 1880 and 1890 A graphic analysis of cattle grazing in early utah is an original contribution of the writer geographic SKETCH OF EARLYUTAHEARLY UTAH settlement

john T blake department of geography

MS degree august 1974

ABSTRACT this thesis depicts in a visual format the settlement geography of early utah several topics in utahs historical geography were mapped by conventional cartographic techniques to give an overview of processes and patterns of settlement this thesis points to the utility of maps in portraying inforanfor mation concerning settlement activity it indicates that visual correlations enable the student to better understand settlement through spatial relationships of special interest are the use of color maps and the creation of physical relief impr6simpressionssionsblons by photographically screening a raised relief map of utah 3

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